William Sanjour should have known better, but be
evidently didn't.
Sanjour, the chief of the federal. Environmental
Protection Agency's hazardous waste implementation program, had no business
speaking at a protest rally in Warren County the other day. Yet speak he
did. and in the process helped inflame a situation that's already grown
too hot.
The situation involves the dumping of more than
35,000 cubic yards of dirt that had been contaminated by toxic PCBs. The
soil had been contaminated back in 1978 when PCB-laden. oil was dumped
along more than 200 miles of roadsides in 14 North Carolina counties. After
a great deal of discussion and examination, the state decided that the
best way to dispose of the soil was to bury it in a landfill. A landfill
near Afton in Warren County was chosen as the site.
A hue and cry arose in Warren County. That was understandable
--. nobody wants hazardous wastes dumped near home. But the controversy
soon took on political rather than environmental overtones. Indeed, the
landfill dispute has become a cause celebre attracting just about anyone
who has a bone to pick with the state of North Carolina.
Enter Sanjour. He went out of his way to say that
he was speaking only for himself, and not for the agency that employs him.
Then he began playing to his audience. "I'm here to tell the people about
hazardous landfills," he said, "I know they don't work." Yet, in his address,
Sanjour offered no realistic alternatives to the landfill.
He went on to describe landfills in general as being
political rather than environmental issues. Then he prophesied that the
establishment of the PCB dump would be a "wedge" that would allow the creation
of other hazardous waste. landfills in Warren. County.
By doing so, Sanjour did nothing but play to his
audience's fears. Why did he do so? If Sanjour believes that hazardous
waste landfills don't work, he has every right, even duty, to present that
case to the public. But he doesn't have any excuse for making that case,
which he didn't make anyway, at an emotionally charged political forum
such as the one in Warren County. He doesn't have an excuse, even given
his caveat about speaking for himself and not for the EPA, for injecting
himself into a local dispute. That's simply not the sort of conduct one
expects from a public official.
Indeed, Sanjour's conduct was most unbecoming. A
public official, including a non-elected public official such as an EPA
official, is supposed to further the public interest. By playing to the
fears of his listeners, Sanjour did nothing to serve the public interest.
In fact, he did just the opposite. He stood before a crowd of already agitated
people, and made them even more agitated.
Sanjour had no excuse for what he did. He should
have known better than to say what he said. Sanjour clearly stepped beyond
the bounds of acceptable conduct for a public official. It's up to his
superiors to rein him in before he does any more damage. He's already done
more than his share.